Dhammapada verse 218
Chapter 16, The Beloved (Piyavagga) · verses 209–220
“One eager to realize the ineffable would be filled with awareness. Their mind not bound to pleasures of sense, they’re said to be heading upstream.”
Chandajāto anakkhāte, Manasā ca phuṭo siyā; Kāmesu ca appaṭibaddhacitto, Uddhaṁsototi vuccati.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 218 mean?
Verse 218 belongs to chapter 16, The Beloved (Piyavagga), which gathers verses 209–220 on the beloved, and the grief that follows. It is filed under mind & intention. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 217 and verse 219 are part of the same passage.
Twelve verses on the beloved, and this is the chapter that explains grief. Its argument is that sorrow follows from affection — the one you love, the thing you cannot lose — and it does not tell the reader to love less so much as to see what they have taken on. Verses 209–211 are the ones most often quoted.
More verses on this